I know a handful of fellow InsidePulse writers gave their Wrestlemania 30 Predictions already, so now I’m going to give you mine!
When Wrestlemania 29 ends, everyone immediately starts speculating about what the next Wrestlemania will look like. Sure they may wonder what the next RAW or PPV will look like, but I know a lot of people who think about the next Wrestlemania and wonder if it will be better, what potential match-ups will be and what not. And the WWE better do a lot better job next year compared to what they did this year.
I never wish bad business on any corporation, but I hope these rumored bad Wrestlemania buyrate numbers are true. It has to serve as a wake up call to the WWE that their standard, everyday booking is not working anymore. We don’t want to see rematches of big PPV matches that have already taken place. We want the guys in the main event of the biggest show of the year to be there every week and interact with each other. The WWE needs to change the way they book things and not do their typical go through the motions way of booking.
Once again, these are my ideas and predictions and are free to criticism by everyone who reads them.
Tag Team Championship: Christian & Chris Jericho (c) vs Rey Mysterio & Alberto del Rio
At this point in his career, Chris Jericho is a part time worker. He comes back whenever he pleases. But you know what? I’m perfectly fine with that when it comes to Y2J. Mostly because he can put on a good match with whoever he is placed in the ring with. And he is also willing to put young talent over. He did it with Fandango. He put over CM Punk last year. And despite the constant losses, Jericho is still over with the fans. Christian is waiting in the wings for a storyline to help bring about his return. Christian and Jericho worked well together before, and there is no reason to believe they couldn’t again.
Rey Mysterio is still a draw, but he can’t be trusted to put on a full 15 minute singles match given his bad knees and constant injury problems. So you pair him with the other top Mexican star in the company. I really don’t think Sin Cara will be around come Mania time next year. While there still may be some hope for Alberto del Rio as a face, it is fading fast. He isn’t getting strong reactions from the crowd. So what you do here is put four solid veteran workers in a match that would be a good opener, and elevate the Tag Titles a bit. If the WWE could actually time out their shows, I would love to see this open and get 20 minutes.
Roman Reigns vs Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins
Yes, this is the match where The Shield EXPLODES!!! I like The Shield gimmick, but you know the WWE can’t sustain anything for the long term. Could these guys stay together long term and all hold WWE gold at the same time? Sure. Absolutely. I think Reigns and Amborse have main event potential while Seth Rollins could be a solid upper mid card guy who with the right booking could get into the main event like Daniel Bryan did. I thought about making this a 2-on-1 handicap match with Reigns taking on Rollins and Ambrose, but I decided to go the Triple Threat route instead a la the Legacy match at Wrestlemania 26. Let all three guys go at in the ring and let the fans decide who they want to get behind. Reigns has the look and the big impact moves similar to Batista and Goldberg that could get him over in time. Ambrose and Rollins have the Internet following that can help them get over. No matter how it happens, all three of these guys should be long term players in the future of the WWE.
#1 Contender Elimination Match: Ryback vs Wade Barrett vs Antonio Cesaro vs Kofi Kingston
I wanted to find a way to get all four of these guys on the card, and this is the only way I came up with. I would like to think that Barrett and Cesaro would get stronger pushes this year, but I can’ have any faith in that happening. Plus, on my own card I have other plans for the top stars in the WWE. Ryback is getting a WWE Title feud now, but I don’t know if he will have the long term viability to get a big match against someone like a Brock Lesnar next year. Kofi is a guy who can get the crowd behind him when needed, even though I think a heel turn would better his career. The goal here would be to have either Barrett or Cesaro win. There were reports that Vince is down on Cesaro, which is weird to me. He’s a big guy who can work, the type of people Vince loves. I still think they have plans for Barrett to be a main eventer. If he doesn’t win a Money in the Bank contract this year, or get a push toward the end of the year, all hope is lost.
World Heavyweight Championship: Randy Orton (c) vs Daniel Bryan
Randy Orton has been rumored to turn heel for what feels like forever now. But for some reason, the WWE has continued to hold off that turn. We thought it was going to happen at Wrestlemania, but it didn’t happen. There are signs of it happening in the near future though. Orton works better as a heel because I believe his gimmick and persona are better suited for it. I would expect him to become the top heel on the Smackdown brand by the summer. That means he should get a World Title run, and be World Champ headed into Wrestlemania. His opponent? A guy who deserves a main event run as a face in the WWE. Daniel Bryan is one of the most over superstars the company has. Once the inevitable break up of Team Hell No happens, Bryan should get a singles push. Instead of being catapulted right away up the card, I would prefer they take it slow. Start off with maybe the United States or Intercontinental then build up for a main event push come the fall. Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan haven’t had an actual feud yet so it would be a fresh main event match headed into Wrestlemania.
Sheamus vs Brock Lesnar
The strong sentiment from a lot of people is that Brock Lesnar will more than likely face either The Rock or The Undertaker at next year’s Wrestlemania. But you look at those opponents, and you wonder if Brock would mesh well with those guys. Taker is getting up there in age and can’t really work to brutal of a match anymore. The Rock was just injured facing John Cena in a normal wrestling match. Why would he risk an injury against someone like Brock Lesnar, not the safest of workers in the ring? It is a big money match but would Rock take the risk? Sure he wanted to before, but an injury changes everything. So I was looking for a guy that could have a brawl with Lesnar and could benefit from a win. Enter Sheamus. He’s been dumbed down recently by the WWE. He used to be a no nonsense ass kicker but now he is reaching John Cena levels of annoying. If Sheamus could get rebuilt here into his old self, it could rejuvenate his career. Like I said, Sheamus works well enough in the ring that he could get a good brawl out of Lesnar.
The Rock vs Dolph Ziggler
This might take some work, and maybe a few extra bucks thrown The Rock’s way, but there would be no better way to make Dolph Ziggler your next mega star than by throwing him in the ring with The Rock. I originally had Ziggler paired with The Undertaker, but then I thought Ziggler would benefit more from a win against The Rock rather than a loss against Undertaker (though I would argue Dolph would be a great person to break The Streak). Dolph finally won the World Title, and I would expect the WWE to give him a big push in 2013. He’s busted his ass the last few years in the WWE and deserves to be in a high profile match at Wrestlemania. If Ziggler isn’t going to fight for a Title, than a match against The Rock would be ideal. Rock doesn’t have problems putting people over and Dolph could become one of the top players in the WWE with a win here. Hopefully a big push in 2013 will give Dolph even more confidence than he already has. Ziggler has improved enough on the mic that he can hold his own against The Rock. The match would be an easy set up with Dolph going after Rock for coming back again and taking a spot that Ziggler deserves more.
The Undertaker vs John Cena
Everyone is pretty much of the same state of mind: This is more than likely the last big match that The Undertaker has left to do that he’s never done at Wrestlemania. It is also the one thing John Cena has never done at Wrestlemania as well. He’s fought for the WWE and World Title, he’s fought The Rock, but he’s never gone after The Streak. I know a lot of people like the appeal of this match, especially if John Cena turns heel (which will probably never happen), but the match doesn’t really do anything for me personally. Cena isn’t ending The Streak, and I would rather have Taker face a young guy who could benefit from breaking The Streak. But when I was going through my card, this was the best option I had for both of these guys. They feuded once before on Smackdown, but that was over TEN years ago now, which seems crazy when you think about it. I’m sure these two would put on a good match in the ring. I would expect Cena to have a long WWE Title run, and instead of fighting for the Title again at Wrestlemania, he challenges Taker.
WWE Championship: Triple H (C) vs CM Punk
Triple H didn’t lose his retirement match at Wrestlemania. I argued at the time that he didn’t have any big matches left, and that I couldn’t see the point of him returning. But now that we have to deal with more Triple H, I tried thinking of what he could do to warrant coming back. Well, this is what I came up with. And while there are probably very few people that want to see Triple H as WWE Champion, this is what I came up with. If the WWE wants to have big time matches for the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble, then they can have Triple H face whomever the WWE Champ is there, whether it is John Cena, The Rock or Brock Lesnar. Preferably, Triple H goes heel as the corporate guy in charge of the WWE. The WWE missed a HUGE opportunity back in 2011 when they decided to keep HHH as a face going into his program with CM Punk. I advocated for a heel HHH leading a new Corporation like faction at the time with Alberto del Rio, Dolph Ziggler and Wade Barrett.
If it was me, I would have Triple H turn heel by winning the WWE Title. Then, CM Punk wins the Royal Rumble and gets to face HHH at Wrestlemania. CM Punk deserves the main even spot at Wrestlemania. He deserved it this year, and he should main event one of these shows before he retires. I prefer CM Punk as a heel, but the build to the match is better if it is told as CM Punk over coming everyone on the “corporate’ side of things who has kept him down and held him back during his entire run with the WWE. Yes he was WWE Champ for over 400 days, but Punk could play up the fact that he barely main evented PPVs as WWE Champ. Basically, the WWE gets a second chance to reboot a solid feud they botched in 2011.
I know a lot of people want to see CM Punk vs Steve Austin, but I’m not a believer in it happening. Do I want to see it? Absolutely. But Austin’s health has always lead me to question it. I would put the odds at less than 50% of happening.
So there’s my Wrestlemania card. As I said, criticize away. I like it. Do you? Let me know.
Until Next Time,
Justin C
Follow Me On Twitter @JCWonka
